Agreeing with God

I believe that the main reason why Jonah

was so offended by the mercy of God

towards people was his self-centredness.

He looked at the work of God from his own

small world and got frustrated.

Maybe this was one of the main goals of his mission.

God wanted him to step out from his own

subjective interpretations and be carried

by the plan of God. God knows what he is doing.

The only problem with that is one’s

disagreement with it.

Fast And Fluent

Some people are so good in speaking that it’s impossible

to find out who they really are and what they think.

If you attach an unlimited amount of money to an extremely

sophisticated and fast vocabulary you end up approving

things that you never even dreamed to talk about.

When the dust settles down you are sitting there with

no arms nor legs left and you wonder what just happened.

This is called deception.

Missions

As advanced as computers are they are not spiritual.

Even though they can be programmed with the right

vocabulary and sure patterns based on spiritual principles,

they can never share our pain  nor give us a hug.

The orthodox idea of the church service being a divine

play has some truth to it. It’s the momentum of God’s

work that is manifested in flesh and blood.

Moses could not just sent a message to the Pharaoh

when asking  him to let his people go. He had to

physically go into his presence.

Paul didn’t just send church planting epistles. He had to

take the inconveniences and pains of travelling in

order to reach Rome and other centers on civilizations.

God didn’t send just an influence from heaven to save

the world. He had to come himself.

This is called missions.

From Sacrifice to Surrender

Last night we heard an amazing message and an invitation

not to be fooled by that what seems to be genuine and deep.

P.Brown described the difference between  sacrifice and

surrender. When someone is giving a sacrifice they give up

something to give over. They still have control over the

action. Surrender demands more distance. You give up your

control and give in.

Only God can move me from sacrifice to surrender.

This is something that will never be announced publicly.

Only God knows if you really have surrendered to him.

God’s plan will always lead us to places where we cannot

manage everything.

The only reasonable choice is to surrender in trust. 

That’s a good geography to study.

Anybody will do.

Anyone who has ever been used by God in any capacity

knows very well that God can use anybody.

He can make stones to speak, donkeys, snakes, angels, bananas…

In the midst of all these multiple choices man continues to be

his best choice. Why is that?

It’s our freedom. No other creature is as free as we are.

Pastor Schaller has been speaking a lot about the story of Jonah.

We can learn so many things about the work of God from it.

For me it looks like God needed Jonah to preach in Nineveh.

He insisted using Jonah.

Somehow he could not save the city without a preacher.

And it almost didn’t matter what kind of preacher it would be,

as long as he was one with a free will.

God can use anybody but will he find somebody whom he could use?

There seems to be so many anybodies, but only a few somebodies.

Anybody will become somebody when they agree to be available for God.

Just shake it off !

Projections are the uninvited thoughts, ideas, feelings and attitudes

that pop up in our minds arrogantly, demanding all our attention.

They are lies that are sent to distract us

away from the presence of God.

They don’t just happen.  They are a part of Satan’s systematic

attack on people.

In the midst of one of the greatest blessings

for your spiritual welfare (read GGWO Convention),

you all the sudden feel that you should be somewhere else,

alone, far from these truthful friends.

Truth is not a spontaneous, surprising feeling.

It’s a solid rock that cannot be easily kicked out from our lives.

Projections are more like a sandstorm that comes and goes.

Just shake it off.

Out of The Squirrel Wheel

Out of The Squirrel Wheel

According to some Christian theologies

 “man has to merit the merit of Christ”.

This puts people into a squirrel wheel,

where there seems to be a lot of activity

but no achievement.

Unresolved guilt continues to motivate

their absurd pursuit.

After running for a while inside this wheel a person

sees nothing but himself and himself only.

That’s one of the main reasons why people withdraw

from fellowship. They get tired of pretending that

everything is all right, when they actually are

at the brink of collapsing.

Healthy faith always leads us to see

more of God and His graciousness.